Eclecticism: Reflections on literature, writing and life

Welcome to Eclecticism. As the name implies, I write about anything and everything, but the thread that holds all these disparate topics together is a love of good, creative nonfiction writing. I do my best to avoid clichés — not just the phrases, like “an ego the size of Texas”, but textual ones like “This.Is.Not.On.”

In more concrete terms, I muse on everyday happenings and conversations (like My Life in Cafés), write book reviews (often in unusual ways, such as my review of The Comfort of Strangers), and experiment in writing the same story in many different styles (start here if you’re interested: Experimenting with Styles). As for me, I have over 30 years' experience of being published in magazines and books (here’s a list of some of the places I’ve been published).

Free vs paid

A free subscription enables you to receive direct emails to your inbox, read public posts, and post comments on some articles.

A paid subscription entitles you to subscriber-only posts, including access to all the Experiments in Style (EIS) posts, EIS Extra posts, Behind the scenes posts, receive occasional freebies, early access to some articles, and access to the full archive. In addition, a paid subscription allows you to comment on all the articles.

Articles cover:

• Reflections on everyday life, and articles about things, events, sayings, people, that have profoundly influenced me. For example: Dear Mr Dale.

• Book reviews.

• Experimental writing, in particular through a French writing movement known as Oulipo. For example: Experimenting with Styles.

A very short bio

Here’s a bit more about me:

The picture shows two of our three cats. They eat so much that I have to work to keep up with the food bills.

I live in the UK: a Londoner born and bred.

I’ve been writing for many years, and was first published by someone willing to pay me in 1990 (see link above).

I can’t think of anything else, but feel free to get in touch: terry.freedman+50000@gmail.com

Thanks for reading this.

Disclaimer: all opinions are offered in good faith; please don’t regard my suggestions as advice.